Brazil was wet. Very, very wet. In amongst the chaos, the safety cars, the red flags, the fact that every time Toto Wolff referred to aquaplaning I thought he was talking about drivers strategising to do so ("aqua planning", as he put it!) and even more chaos, Lewis Hamilton emerged as the one driver to keep cool, presumably helped by all the rain that was getting in through the top of his visor! Nico Rosberg followed him home in second to keep one hand on the WDC while Max Verstappen, racing as if everybody else was on the wrong tyres, charged through to take third.

While we now know the real F1 title will go down to the wire, could Herb capture the Group Pick'em Championship for 2016? Entering the race with an 81-point advantage, 114 was the magic number. For that would be the absolute maximum points that Hamilton_Jar could outscore Herb by in Abu Dhabi, a scenario possible courtesy of six unused jokers (25+18+15+12+10+8) and one differing driver selection (Hulk rather than Herb's Perez) winning the race. Of course, the chance of Hulkenberg winning, not to mention six joker selections finishing 1st through to 6th, is highly, highly unlikely. Still, it's that or accepting Herb has long had the title sewn up, so let's go with the slightly more interesting option!

The champagne moment

Well, with 114 points in mind, Herb will have to wait until Abu Dhabi to officially be confirmed as our inaugural Champion. This is in spite of recording a seventh round victory of the year, scoring 122 points and surpassing the previous record of five successive podiums (which, perhaps unsurprisingly, Herb already held). However, Hamilton_Jar continues to stay in the picture as a 116 point score results in a sixth-successive podium of their own, taking a share of that record with Herb. Completing our leading trio was, for the first time since Belgium, Schumacher Forever#1. 109 points, aided by playing three different jokers, results in a fifth podium of 2016.

With Raikkonen and Massa failing to finish, Daniel Ricciardo only collecting four points and Bottas scoring none, it was perhaps unsurprising that this wasn't the highest scoring round of the year! 90 points was the average at a weekend that saw only three non-podium finishers break the 100-point mark: Coulthard's Chin, Mayhem and TypingChicane, who scored 104, 103 and 102 points respectively. A four-way tie followed next as Jezza13, theferret, Fountoukos13 and Icemanjee1 all collected 97 points in Brazil. Black_Flag_11 took a huge step towards avoiding the wooden spoon by scoring 88 points, which ended up being a massive 31 more than Remmirath managed as another poor Ferrari afternoon meant another poor Remmirath result.

If you played a joker in Brazil, chances are you're going to regret having done so. Of the six deployed only one actually scored any extra points. Kimi Raikkonen was a popular choice as Jezza13, Schumacher forever#1 and Mayhem all chose the Finn as their DG2 joker. Jenson's Understeer also initially did the same, but decided to change his mind after seeing three others doing the same. It was a wise move - albeit after qualifying it didn't look quite so smart! - as the Iceman crashed out in spectacular fashion on the wet Interlagos track. Schumacher forever#1 and Icemanjee1 divided the two Renault pilots amongst themselves but neither picked up a point, leaving Schumacher forever#1's third joker, future Renault driver Nico Hulkenberg, to deliver where the rest failed. Hulk's six points were enough to lift Schumacher forever#1 above Coulthard's Chin and onto the podium.

Seven of the field have used all their jokers (highlighted in magenta) leaving just four active players with jokers heading into the season finale. Jenson's Understeer is best placed to surpass Herb's current leading joker total of 56, having kept his DG2 joker back for the last race of the year. Icemanjee1 has done the same but trails Jenson's Understeer by five points so would need to go a different (more successful) route in order to better Herb's 56 joker points. Meanwhile TypingChicane is the only active competitor to have two jokers left remaining: DG4 and DG5, so could also yet threaten to take the joker crown. Black_Flag_11 and Hamilton_Jar have played no jokers between them.

Spare a thought for...

Remmirath. If you discount the Spanish race - where the majority of the field scored 58 points or fewer - then 57 points would actually represent the lowest score we've had to date. Fortune favours the brave, but so far it has only favoured Remmirath's bold picks once this season. Would anyone really begrudge Remmirath a Mercedes double-DNF in Abu Dhabi? Well, Black_Flag_11 might...

At the top... Herb remains on course to be confirmed as our first Champion in Abu Dhabi. Only an absolutely remarkable set of results is going to change that, one which would involve Hamilton_Jar having to score some 80-odd points with all six jokers, as well as Nico Hulkenberg comfortably outscoring Sergio Perez. It seems unlikely Hamilton_Jar will even use a joker, let alone record that number of points. Similarly, Hamilton_Jar has a comfortable advantage over TypingChicane with the top three looking likely to finish in that order.

The battle for fourth... swings back the way of Schumacher forever#1, who having lost fourth in Mexico moves back ahead of Jezza13. Both have used all six jokers so there will be no extra points to be scored. In terms of their selections, Schumacher forever#1 has Perez and Renault whilst Jezza13 went for Hulkenberg and Haas. With eleven points seperating them, a strong result for Hulk and Haas sneaking into the points could yet be enough to see Jezza jump back into fourth.

The three-way scrap for sixth... remains in Icemanjee1's hands. Theferret is guaranteed to finish ahead of Fountoukous13 by virtue of them having the same picks and no jokers remaining. There are some key differences in who picked who, though. Icemanjee1 has Rosberg, Perez, Button and Nasr, while theferret/Fountoukos13 chose Hamilton, Hulkenberg, Alonso and Palmer. The obvious difference there being Hamilton and Rosberg which, based on the last three race weekends, would suggest theferret has a strong shout at making up the six point deficit to Icemanjee1.

Mayhem looks to be too far back to catch that trio, but comfortably ahead of Coulthard's Chin, who in-turn seems untroubled by the flagging duo of Jenson's Understeer and Exediron, who themselves would appear to be far enough ahead of Black_Flag_11 to not have to worry about dropping any further places.

At the bottom... Remmirath's only hope of jumping Black_Flag_11 is a poor race for Mercedes. Both have the same driver selections (with the exception of Palmer and Grosjean) but it is the team choices where things differ. Remmirath, of course, went for Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren, while Black_Flag_11 has the more popular trilogy of Mercedes, Williams and Force India. A double DNF for Mercedes would surely open the door for a potential Red Bull/Ferrari 1-2-3-4, a scenario that should pretty much guarantee Remmirath gets off the foot of the table at the very last moment. It would be worth 70 points, meaning even if Black_Flag_11's selections of Williams and Force India finished fifth thru to eighth it wouldn't be enough to prevent a change in position at the bottom of the standings. Of course, the most likely outcome is that Mercedes finish 1-2 or, at worst, 1-3, and Remmirath fails to 'do a Sauber' and avoid the wooden spoon at the last moment.

Well, barring a large amount of unforeseen good luck for me (terrible luck if you're pretty much anyone else), it looks like I'm going to be dead last this season. But that's okay, because we switched over to developing next year's car halfway through the season, and expect to be much more competitive next year.

On another note, I may as well use my last remaining joker on Grosjean for Abu Dhabi.

For the last time in 2016, I find myself sitting down to write one of these updates. Unfortunately there is a little less on the line than in the actual race as Herb is all but across the finishing line, and the top three in general is pretty much sorted. Fourth (Schumacher forever#1 vs Jezza13) and sixth (Icemanjee1, theferret and, to a certain extent, Fountoukos13) still have to be settled, and we still have to see who finishes last. But for now let's concentrate on Abu Dhabi itself and come back to the overall standings a little later.

The champagne moment

While Abu Dhabi was about crowning our first Champion, that momentous occasion had to take a backseat as we instead crown our ninth different winner of 2016. An impressive statistic considering there were only 14 of us actually participating! Having made only one previous podium appearance this year, Black_Flag_11 - aided, it has to be said, by a full deployment of jokers - charges to the fore, scoring 134 points to take victory. Is this a sign of things to come in 2017? Following Black_Flag_11 home for a 12th podium of 2016 is Hamilton_Jar. 125 points was good enough to make an appearance on the rostrum for the seventh race in a row, five of which have been as the runner-up. Not to be outdone, Herb also claimed a seventh-successive podium finish. A season-high 13 podiums is punctuated by a first third-place of the year.

While we couldn't collectively break 100 points, more of the field did amass a century or more than those who failed to do so. TypingChicane was the best of the rest, scoring 114 points to miss out on another podium by a mere nine points. That was also the number of points TypingChicane finished above the oft-equal Jezza13, theferret and Fountoukos13, all of whom finished up the season with a 105 point score. Also scoring in triple digits were Schumacher forever#1 and Icemanjee1, who both netted 103 points.

With Abu Dhabi representing the last race of the year, we saw a lot of housekeeping in the joker stakes as the field scrambled to use whatever they had left. Leading the way was Black_Flag_11 who used a complete set of jokers: Hamilton, Bottas, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Button and Grosjean. All-in-all it represented a 41-point haul, representing the difference between a lowly finish and a first round victory of the year. Jenson's Understeer and Icemanjee1 both used their DG2 joker on Kimi Raikkonen, claiming an extra eight points in the process. We also saw TypingChicane using a DG4 joker on Sergio Perez (4 points), as well as a DG5 joker on Fernando Alonso (1 point). And finally, Remmirath's DG6 joker went on Romain Grosjean, but with no last-race surprises it meant any DG6 choice would've netted the same result: zero additional points.

Ultimately, every participant with the exception of Mayhem and Hamilton_Jar used all their jokers. Between us, we averaged 47.6 points. Of those to use a joker, Remmirath scored the least points (31) whilst Jenson's Understeer ended up with the highest number of bonus points (57). The absolute maximum available would've been the following:

In a break from tradition - and a desperate attempt to create some kind of tension to what is a finishing order which, if you've been paying any attention, won't come as a huge surprise! - I've decided to do this backwards and to add in a little more detail for each entrant. So starting from the bottom up...

14th Place: RemmirathOverall score - 1827Highest race total - 123 (Spain)Lowest race total - 57 (Brazil)Joker total - 31Total podiums (1st/2nd/3rd) - 3 (1/0/2)Last places - 9Fortune favours the brave - unless your name is Remmirath. Despite being one of just four to plump for Red Bull rather than Williams, Remmirath was desperately let down by the decision to pick Ferrari rather than Mercedes. The only entrant to do so, it ultimately resulted in a net loss of a massive 367 points. The result? Rather than finishing 4th overall with 2194 points, Remmirath trails home in last place, nearly 100 points behind the next entrant. Of course, had Ferrari been the team to beat then Remmirath would have been a strong bet to take the Group Pick'em crown, and some would argue that if you don't finish 1st overall, it doesn't really matter where you end up. McLaren's poor season - Remmirath was again the only entrant to select them - didn't help, either. Will Remmirath consider a slightly less bold approach in 2017? Or will it again be the high risk, high reward approach?

13th Place: ExedironOverall score - 1924Highest race total - 121 (Singapore)Lowest race total - 54 (Spain)Joker total - 48Total podiums (1st/2nd/3rd) - 3 (0/1/2)Last places - 3A season that started out quite well for Exediron ultimately tailed off into disappointment. Two podium finishes in the first three races were followed up by just one more in the remaining 18 races. Exediron was one of those who opted for Max Verstappen in DG4, a selection which was somewhat ruined when Red Bull swapped the talented Dutch kid for a shellshocked Russian. Choosing Toro Rosso over Force India also represented a 110 point loss to the rest of the field. Perhaps the biggest positive for Exediron is that Remmirath had such a dire season!

12th Place: Jenson's UndersteerOverall score - 1933Highest race total - 118 (Russia)Lowest race total - 54 (Spain)Joker total - 57Total podiums (1st/2nd/3rd) - 2 (1/0/1)Last places - 3Jenson's Understeer finishes 2016 with the longest active podium drought, stretching back a ridiculous 18 races. Like Exediron, it was a promising start to the year, but victory in China wasn't at all a sign of things to come. Also like Exediron, Jenson's Understeer benefitted from Remmirath's awful year. However, having done a better job with his joker selections (better than anybody else, in fact) and sharing the same pre-season picks as Exediron means Jenson's Understeer ultimately finishes 9 points ahead. Will we see these two sparring again in 2017?

11th Place: Black_Flag_11Overall score - 1943Highest race total - 134 (Abu Dhabi)Lowest race total - 64 (Austria)Joker total - 41Total podiums (1st/2nd/3rd) - 2 (1/0/1)Last places - 4For a long part of the season, Black_Flag_11 was the only person who seemed to be capable of taking the last-place finish away from Remmirath. But after sharing the position amongst themselves, Black_Flag_11 didn't just pull away, but ultimately jumped two places in the final race of the season. Six jokers in Abu Dhabi also enabled Black_Flag_11 to claim their first round win of the year, allowing them to end what was generally a negative year on a spectacular high. A sign of things to come for 2017?

10th Place: Coulthard's ChinOverall score - 1985Highest race total - 139 (Belgium)Lowest race total - 50 (Spain)Joker total - 49Total podiums (1st/2nd/3rd) - 2 (0/1/1)Last places - 2Coulthard's Chin probably won't want to spend too much time thinking about their 2016 season. A slow start from which they never really recovered meant the main goal for the year was to simply avoid finishing too close to the bottom. Podiums in Canada and Belgium represented the high points of the year, while two last-place finishes would've been considered the other end of the scale.

9th Place: MayhemOverall score - 2040Highest race total - 123 (Russia and Monaco)Lowest race total - 48 (Spain)Joker total - 43Total podiums (1st/2nd/3rd) - 3 (1/2/0)Last places - 2Mayhem's season was not unlike that of Coulthard's Chin; in fact, it was perhaps even more of a mixed bag. A podium finish in Australia meant a strong start, and while a second podium was recorded in Russia, it was also sandwiched between two last-placed finishes. That included setting the lowest score of the season - a miserable 48-point effort in Spain. A round victory awaited later on the year in Italy, and Mayhem did manage to claw some positions back as the season progressed, but consistency will be the key improvement needed in 2017.

8th Place: Fountoukos13Overall score - 2082Highest race total - 141 (Monaco)Lowest race total - 50 (Spain)Joker total - 41Total podiums (1st/2nd/3rd) - 1 (0/1/0)Last places - 0Fountoukos13's season was perhaps best described in a single word: average. Eighth place overall represents a middle-of-the-pack finish. A solitary podium in Monaco was equal-worst amongst all entrants, but at the same time Fountoukos13 never finished a round in last place. It's difficult to find too much more to write about a season with so few highs - but also so few lows - so I'll sum it up by saying it could've been a lot worse! Also: kudos on having the username that I've mistyped by far the most times whilst doing these write-ups

7th Place: theferretOverall score - 2090Highest race total - 122 (Monaco)Lowest race total - 50 (Spain)Joker total - 49Total podiums (1st/2nd/3rd) - 1 (0/1/0)Last places - 0Theferret narrowly misses out on stealing sixth place away from Icemanjee1, ultimately having to settle for seventh overall. Much like Fountoukos13's season, it was one where not a great deal happened. One second-place finish ties Fountoukos13 as the least for the season, but slightly better joker deployment allows theferret to finish eight points above Fountoukos13 despite making the same pre-season selections.

6th Place: Icemanjee1Overall score - 2094Highest race total - 123 (Singapore)Lowest race total - 58 (Spain)Joker total - 52Total podiums (1st/2nd/3rd) - 5 (0/2/3)Last places - 1Despite actually finishing one round in last place - the highest-placed finish to have done so - Icemanjee1 ultimately holds onto sixth despite a spirited fight from theferret and Fountoukos13. Five podiums spread between Russia and Japan is a decent haul, although Icemanjee1 will no doubt wish one of those had been a round victory. Good joker selections certainly did no harm, either; only Jenson's Understeer and Herb scored more bonus points.

5th Place: Jezza13Overall score - 2140Highest race total - 138 (Belgium)Lowest race total - 50 (Spain)Joker total - 50Total podiums (1st/2nd/3rd) - 6 (2/1/3)Last places - 0Even though Jezza13 managed to outscore Schumacher forever#1 in Abu Dhabi, it ultimately wasn't quite enough to climb back up into fourth place. Nevertheless, Jezza13 enjoyed a good inaugural Group Pick'em season. Having gone into the history books as the first ever winner, scoring 115 points to take victory in Australia, Jezza13 added a second victory in Canada, as well as picking up a further four podium finishes. An average score of 101.9 points also means Jezza13 finishes as one of only five entrants to amass more than 100 points on average per race.

4th Place: Schumacher forever#1Overall score - 2149Highest race total - 143 (Belgium)Lowest race total - 56 (Spain)Joker total - 51Total podiums (1st/2nd/3rd) - 5 (2/0/3)Last places - 0In a year dominated by three entrants, Schumacher forever#1 can hold their head up high having bested Jezza13 by nine points to be 'best of the rest'. Five podiums spread across the year - starting and finishing with third places in Australia and Brazil - as well as two round victories allowed Schumacher forever#1 to cash in on their own consistency. At the very least, Schumacher forever#1 will be hoping to go one better in 2017 and claim a top-three finish for the year.

3rd Place: TypingChicaneOverall score - 2302Highest race total - 140 (Bahrain)Lowest race total - 73 (Baku)Joker total - 52Total podiums (1st/2nd/3rd) - 12 (4/3/5)Last places - 0We get into the business end of things with our first top-three finisher, TypingChicane. For a while TypingChicane seemed like they would be the one to beat, but as Toro Rosso started to fade away from Force India it became apparent that might not be the case. Still, four round victories is nothing to be sniffed at, and a total of 12 podium finishes from 21 races means that more often than not, TypingChicane was stood somewhere on the podium. Even a season-low score of 73 points is impressive when you compare it to some of the woeful scores the rest of us posted!

2nd Place: Hamilton_JarOverall score - 2371Highest race total - 137 (Britain)Lowest race total - 73 (Spain)Joker total - 0Total podiums (1st/2nd/3rd) - 12 (2/7/3)Last places - 0Hamilton_Jar's season could well be remembered as a 'what if...?' kind of year. A total of 12 podium finishes, including round victories in Germany and Mexico, as well as seven-successive podium finishes to close out the year means Hamilton_Jar finishes as the 2016 Group Pick'em runner-up. Yet having used no jokers over the course of the season, was there the possibility to have actually taken the title? It would've required 85 points, which would've been 28 more than anyone else managed with their joker selections, so it is perhaps unlikely. But it certainly could've been a lot closer than it actually was!

1st Place: HerbOverall score - 2456Highest race total - 158 (Monaco)Lowest race total - 79 (Spain)Joker total - 56Total podiums (1st/2nd/3rd) - 14 (7/6/1)Last places - 0It will come as no surprise that none other than Herb has been crowned the inaugural Group Pick'em Champion! The undoubted class of the field, Herb recovered from no podium places in the first four races to rattle off an incredible 14 from the last 17 events. Seven round victories was three more than anybody else managed. Seven-successive podiums to end 2016 was equalled only by Hamilton_Jar. Even Herb's joker deployment was right amongst the best, collecting an addition 56 points over the course of the year. Perhaps the most impressive statistic of all is that Herb's lowest score of the year - 79 points in Spain - was still good enough to finish on the podium. Not to mention scoring no less than 108 points in the final 14 rounds of the calendar. What else is there to say except congratulations to Herb on such a dominant year!

Well, that's it for 2016. A big thank you to all those who took part and stuck with the game. It'll most certainly be back in 2017, and while I am still nailing down the specifics of it, I can confirm that we will be retiring the joker system and replacing it was some form of transfer system. I want to try and promote a little more participation and have something in-place that means before every race, we all have the option of doing something to change our selections, even if we ultimately opt not to do anything (whilst also being a system that doesn't punish those who do exactly that). I've certainly got something in mind so I'll probably come back in a couple of days and explain it.

Firstly, thanks Jenson's Understeer for running the competition - it was a lot of fun! And you put so much in to the results round-ups I always looked forward to reading them! The end of the season on e is no different. Cheers!

I think I got lucky in that Force India really came through in the end - and I never entertained the idea that Ferrari would get close to Merc. Renault let me down a bit though

Looking forward to 2017, not sure about the transfer system - I'm a bit worried that everybody's team will end up being the same half-way through the season, but I'm sure you've got something in mind (but I did like the jokers!)

Congrats to Herb! You clearly made the best picks. And with Hamilton_Jar not playing the joker game, there was only going to be one winner. Said that, it would have taken some impressive jokers to overcome the points difference between Perez and Hulkenberg.

I think with the 2017 pecking order of teams very much in doubt, the game will need a mechanism to make up for early misjudgments. But I'm not sure a transfer system will be the best solution.

An alternative method could be to have the groups change over the course of the season. Say, Driver Group 1 starts as Hamilton, Rosberg, Ricciardo, Verstappen (as many of us expect Mercedes and Red Bull to be dominant next year).Then, after the first four races, if it becomes evident that Ferrari did a much better job than expected, and that for example Rosberg and Verstappen aren't really on it, group 1 for races 5-8 becomes: Hamilton, Ricciardo, Vettel and Raikkonen. Likewise for other groups. The reshuffling of groups would have to be based on real results (to avoid any suspicion of self-interest). It's only a rough idea that would need more thinking and elaboration.

Also, it may be worth to look at how points are awarded. As it is now, the points gaps between the high scoring F1 teams are so large, that it makes no difference which of the minor teams or drivers we choose. Wouldn't it be great if the game could capture some of that excitement when Sauber overtook Manor by scoring a measly two points in Brazil?

The issue with potentially changing the driver in certain groups is that it creates a lot of confusion. Just switching Verstappen and Kvyat caught a few people out. If I start changing multiple drivers and/or teams then it's going to start getting a bit complicated. Plus it presents the question of whether people keep their previous picks (which could mean someone ends up with two drivers in the top group, thus giving them a huge advantage) or have to reselect picks for any modified groups, which relies on people a) being aware they need to and b) actually doing so! The thought I've got rattling around my head with regards to a transfer system is something like this:

After each race, everyone is allowed to make one/two driver transfers or one team transfer. Once you've made a transfer in a specific group, you have a cooldown period whereby you can't make another transfer in that group until four races have passed. So if you make a driver group one transfer after race one, you wouldn't be able to make another transfer in that group until after race five. However, if you elect to make no transfers after a race, your cooldown would double and you would be able to make a transfer in each group a race sooner. That would stop people making changes in the same group after each race (i.e. continually changing Hamilton/Rosberg depending on who they think will perform better in the next race).

My concern with it (or any transfer system) is that, as Herb pointed out, we might end up with everyone having the same team by the end of the season. So as TypingChicane suggested, I think we would need a different points system. Perhaps one that ensures every driver on the grid scores at least one point regardless of where they actually finish, so maybe a simple 22 points for 1st, 21 for 2nd, down to 1 point for a 22nd place finish. That way while your picks in groups one and two would remain more important, more of an emphasis would be placed on the rest of your choices, and would hopefully also promote more variety in the choices we all make.